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Thursday, September 27, 2012

Who's Hunting Who? Nosferatu & Holy Order Report for Empire of the Dead

Following up from the last game report, after the Apes & (not so)Gentlemen worked out their after battle results, the other table had already started setting up another game, rotating an opponent as one member left early, so Mike and I each got out a new faction to play. Most in the league are running one faction, one or two running two, and Mike and I are each running four. Guess who among us has the least self control?

He selected his Holy Order, so I chose my Nosferatu, since they are the most appropriate thematic opponent. Now, I haven't done an update for the Nosferatu yet. I thought I'd wait until they were finished painted, but that hasn't happened yet: they're still in the 'nearly done' phase and have been for months: painted enough to play, but not finished. So someday when they are finished I'll do a whole background & showcase post for them, but I won't hold the battle report back just because it hasn't happened yet.

On we go!

The nest of Nosferatu are lead by the ancient Raedwald, much transformed. His consort Svetta, and between them their daytime guardian, Gort. There are also three ghoulish men who serve him, hoping for greater favor, and there always seem to be swarms of bats wherever Raedwald is near.

Appropriately enough, we rolled up 'fracas' for our scenario, and considering the Nosferatu would face a Holy Order, any scenario might have just degenerated into an all-out fight anyway. Again there would be statues to search for artifacts for the campaign.

The Holy Order had their flying paladin, and the head religious leader. To add numbers they had a couple shooters and a couple Papal Guard with halberds. There was also a fanatical woman with a couple cleavers!

Raedwald has the ability to transform into ethereal mist, and so he did so, making himself immune to their gunfire, or any other attack. The bats flew up to the upper story windows, to pounce upon victims later.
Gort took position with his hunting rifle and waited for dawn to break so he could get a clear shot.

The misty Vampire proceeded forward, making the men of god wonder who he would attack but unable to do anything about it. Their holy symbols would be some protection however: the vampires must pass a Bravado check in order to charge them, but only the Paladin did not have this limitation in reverse, so it would be interesting. One of the ghoulish men tried to guard Svetta, but the Paladin charged her regardless.

Some of the bats attacked a guard, and though they would eventually fall, they held the guard tied up for a good deal of time, giving the numbers advantage to the Nosferatu to the left. The mad woman tangled with a ghoul, and lost the battle. Meanwhile, seeing his beloved attacked, Raedwald overcame any power the religious icon might have over him and charged the Paladin: just as the Holy Knight struck her down, he too was dispatched by the ancient Vampire.

A ghoul discovered a cache of artifacts and dutifully sneaked away back to the nest with them. The bats were dead, Gort killed the guard who'd killed the bats and he himself was then brought down by a Holy Order rifler,who Raedwulf then killed, along with the last remaining guard. All that was left was the Vampire and the wounded Cardinal. Raedwulf passed his Bravado check, determined to kill all who had injured his consort, but the Cardinal lost faith and ran.

A very bloody fight! All but one of the Holy Order was removed from play and all but two of the Nosferatu were removed from play!

The Nosferatu didn't fair too badly for after-action results, though the bats are laughably weak now- but no matter their roll is to tie up & delay, and they can still do that.